SULPHUR AND SALTPETRE. 261 



mortars to grind down and pulverize the other in- 

 gredients, sulphur and saltpetre, of which a large 

 quantity of each had been brought to my house 

 from Ankobar during the day. 



Both sulphur and saltpetre abound in Shoa, the 

 former being obtained from the volcanic country 

 immediately to the west of the H awash, near 

 Azbottee. From an extinct crater, nearly half a 

 mile from our halting-place at Lee Adu, I had 

 brought to me a piece of the purest sulphur, that 

 required no farther process of refinement than the 

 natural sublimation by which it had been deposited 

 in the fissures of the cone. The Adal Bedouins who 

 occupy that neighbourhood bring it to the Negoos 

 of Shoa as a kind of tribute, and sometimes a demand 

 is made upon them for a certain quantity, which is de- 

 livered in a few days, so plentifully is it found, to the 

 Wallasmah Mahomed, who forwards it to the Negoos. 



Saltpetre is found in many places, both on the 

 table-land of Shoa, and in the valley countries to 

 the south and east. It is principally brought from 

 Bulga, where the grey rubbly earth it forms is 

 ploughed over, and the disturbed soil containing 

 more than fifty per cent, of the salt is placed in 

 immense earthenware jars containing water, in 

 which, by frequent agitation, the saltpetre becomes 

 suspended. The liquor is then decanted, and in 

 large saucers allowed to evaporate, when the finest 

 needle-formed crystals of the salt are formed. 



